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Servant Leadership as the Means to Corporate Excellence

Lavon Winkler, Former CEO, FLEXcon, N.A.
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The terms “servant-leader” and “servant leadership” were coined by Robert Greenleaf in 1970 in his essay entitled “The Servant as Leader.” In it, Greenleaf suggests that leaders who engage in servant leadership are servants first. They have a desire to help, and they initiate activities that will enable their co-workers and subordinates to achieve their full potential – in a way that puts the co-workers first and the leader second. Such persons often become leaders because of their service to others. They lead by example, and thus, foster high levels of trust and loyalty, and co- workers naturally look to them for direction and inspiration.

While this may sound at first blush like a lot of warm and fuzzy poppycock, especially to those who adhere to the transformational or leadership-member exchange (LMX) models of leadership, multiple studies have been conducted by industrial psychologists that support a stronger relationship between servant leadership and desired employee behaviors than either transformational leadership or LMX. Furthermore, companies whose leaders engage in the servant-leadership model perform better, when measured by return on assets, than those engaging in either of the other leadership models.

Employees of servant leaders have greater confidence in their ability to perform tasks, actively engage in service toward co-workers, are more creative, and have an overall higher level of job satisfaction.

– Lavon Winkler, Former CEO of FLEXcon North America

The Research

Until recently, the concept of servant leadership was largely ignored, but starting in 2004, Dr. Bob Liden, professor of management at the University of Illinois at Chicago, set out to prove a correlation between servant leadership and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) in subordinate employees (“i.e., discretionary behaviors not required of employees”). What he found was a positive relationship between servant leadership and “organizational justice (fairness in decisions made regarding employees).” This in turn fostered higher levels of OCBs in the organization’s employees. The evidence showed that the employees of servant leaders have greater confidence in their ability to perform tasks, actively engage in service toward co-workers, are more creative, and have an overall higher level of job satisfaction. In his work, Greenleaf identified the following key practices of servant leaders:

  1. Self-awareness. When we are self-aware, we are attuned to how we impact others by our behaviors, personalities, biases, etc., and we think about whether there are other, more thoughtful and effective ways to behave.
  2. Listening. Servant leaders start by listening and observing behavior first. They ask questions to help them understand needs, and then they think about how they can meet those needs.
  3. Developing colleagues. A rising tide lifts all boats. Enabling colleagues to achieve their full potential elevates the entire organization to where it can serve its clientele better. Servant leaders invest significant assets in employee development. Companies whose leaders engage in the servant-leadership model perform better.
  4. Coaching, not controlling. Controlling people does not foster desired behavior. Mentoring and inspiring, on the other hand, develop employees so they can reach their full potential.
  5. Unleashing the energy and intelligence of others. Through coaching, employees learn to make good decisions on their own, are able to achieve their potential and, thus, make their maximum contribution to the organization.
  6. Foresight. According to Greenleaf, “prescience, or foresight, is a better-than-average guess about what is going to happen when in the future.” It’s what allows leaders to anticipate what will happen rather than only react to it, minimizing the chance they will run out of viable, ethical options.

While the concept of servant leadership appears on the surface to be counterintuitive in societies where individual performance is highly valued, and the goal for individuals is to “be number one” at the expense of colleagues, the research indicates that servant leadership may actually be the most effective means of achieving the highest performance of an organization as a whole.

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